


Of Good Intentions

by obsidian_lily



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Injury Recovery, Multi, Past Drug Use, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-02-06 14:03:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12819102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obsidian_lily/pseuds/obsidian_lily
Summary: It was one night. She was sad. He was there for her. Never mind they both had reputations as hotheads who liked to go their own way and not think before they get there. Dawson should never have gotten into bed with Severide. It was reckless and stupid and a one time thing. Right?





	1. Chapter 1: Of course there was tequila involved

**Author's Note:**

> This is cross-posted from FF.net because of the sexual content that appears later on. Just in case they take it down. You can find several more chapters there. I preface this story with the explanation that I have NOT seen all the current seasons of Chicago Fire. I have finished Season One and most of this story occurs in the Season One universe. My childhood best friend encouraged me to write this fanfiction because she likes how I screw around with canon. And I do that here. Enjoy!

Like all bad decisions, it began with tequila and Mexican music and Dawson yelling "my enchiladas have actual spice _cabron!_ " to the chef at a hole in a wall while Severide, laughing, dragged her out over his shoulder like a sack of flour. Like a fire rescue, and Dawson paused in her anger to smell him. Dropped her head against his back, her fingers gripping his jeans for purchase and mumbled a false threat of nausea that made him slow his steps on the sidewalk.

He pulled her down and gently held her face between his palms. It was a Chicago winter, cold and bitter with that constant threat of snow and Dawson felt her face begin to burn with his touch. Closed her eyes, sighed and, bowed her head…

"Hey hey Dawson! Look at me" Kelly crooned through his own stupor, his own laughter, immune like her to red nose weather and everything intelligent in both their bodies…

It should be important to know how they got here. Dawson and Severide were, at best, friendly coworkers linked through sheer stubbornness to Shay. Their love and loyalty always centered around the blonde pixie and her loneliness. How they circled around her, worried and cautious and discussing each crisis before going their separate ways to handle it. Clarice, the baby fever, each and every bad break that culminated in a fierce protective edge: Dawson threatening bodily harm to all comers while Severide dragged Shay close in a bear hug, got her drunk and let her vent by turns.

Dawson looked up at Severide just then and it occurred to her that he was taking care of her the way he did Shay and she was so happy for that shift from impersonal distance she could have cried. She was too drunk to be articulate but the thought came unbidden that her armor was like his. She shot off her mouth, played brash and cavalier with her job and her motives like he did with his body all the while scared and hurting and needing something she could never put into words.

Dawson pulled herself in close, palms meeting at his spine, a grin splitting her wide and

"I see you Kelly" soft and slurred on her breath. Because she did. She saw he was high and lost in his head when no one else was looking and she called him to the carpet without pause. Typical Dawson. And Severide hid behind blue eyes and indignant posturing just enough to fool someone lazier then turned up requesting her help. Not so typical Severide. So she nodded okay.

There they were standing in the middle of a cold Chicago night because she was sad and he took her out and got her tipsy and never asked her why. Severide helped her without questions.

Telling him why would have been wiser but she was not wise. She counted on his armor, on his insatiable allure and charm to wind her around him, the way he was in that moment slowly trailing his left hand down to cup the small of her back, his right hand busy with brushing her hair from her face. Staring. Until his lips brushed hers once, twice, checking in, the slow sly quirk of his bottom lip not nearly as condescending as she would have thought up close. She gently bit down and his mouth opened over hers their breath gone quiet and shared.

"Dawson…"

She giggled. It took him by surprise. So much so he pulled back to give her his trademark grin, confusion bright in his beer goggle eyes. She had never struck him as bubbly and light.

"You gonna call me Dawson when we're naked?"

"Are we getting naked?" he parried while bundling her scarf around her neck to draw her in. He could taste the Cuervo on her. Didn't think it would be a pleasant morning after for either of them and he was trying to be serious, to be good. Even if he couldn't stop playing coy. Dawson never took his bullshit anyway and he desperately wanted to know why they were the way they were right then.

She kissed his nose while he was distracted. Burrowed into his arms until he found himself with his mouth on her hair and their bodies so intertwined that moving was impossible. He felt her mouth on his sternum, breathing in and out, and it tripped a wire in him slow and steady. So familiar he could chase it to its source and find himself hip deep in her for hours.

"I will never be enough" She whispered it so quietly, Severide swallowed his response and tucked his head on top of hers, a noncommittal hum his only sound as he rocked her back and forth. "I'm not good enough. I don't say the right thing and I'm tired of waiting". He didn't ask who it was. Though he could guess. It didn't matter because he understood her feelings of worthlessness. He knew waiting and he knew her. She hated to be vulnerable just like Shay and he'd never leave his best friend hanging.

Her head nudged up to look at him and Severide found himself falling into earnest dark eyes dulled though they were with alcohol. He kissed her nose and she smiled. The serious moment broke. He slid his hand down the backside of her jeans with a small possessive pat and her indignant squeal made him laugh. To see Dawson like this, being an absolute girl and not the hard nosed paramedic with a seething right hook: it was a revelation he'd never known to prize but he did so greedily. Severide's hand migrated into the back pocket of her jeans and he was just reckless enough to press her closer, to let her feel what he was working with as a final warning. He watched her face flush. Felt her nails grip his back through jacket and sweater.

"I just don't think I can call you Gabi though" he sounded pained or breathless or both. Dawson was beautiful and he'd never had a type really. He wasn't even worrying about Shay at the moment which told him exactly how fucked in the head he was. Severide never thought of any of his trysts as mistakes but this...

"You'll figure something out" she kissed him full on the mouth before stumbling to the curb right arm raised for a cab that wasn't there. Severide watched her go before realizing she held his hand tight with her left and followed. He squeezed it. She squeezed back still peering down the road for a cab in either direction. He brought their joined hands to his lips and cupped his free hand over her fingers to blow warm air and kisses over her skin, his seduction begun in earnest. Her big smile his new favourite expression.


	2. The morning after.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which things get slightly awkward but understood.

Severide woke up alone in sheets that smelled like lavender in a room that had begun to smell like bacon and curtains only half closed to the sunlight. He wasn't home and he didn't have a shift which was a relief because his head was throbbing and his tongue was dry. Severide saw a glass of water and two aspirin on the nightstand next to an alarm clock. 7:30am _Jesus was she cruel or just insane?_ He grumbled as he threw his head under her pillows for a moment. He could hear the bacon cooking and a soft sort of humming that might be her voice and Severide wasn't alarmed.

He contemplated that for about thirty seconds before he sat up, grabbed the pills and drank all the water in three gulps. He squinted a little, still adjusting to the light and stretched out his arms. He'd never been in Dawson's home before really and her bedroom was so her, pre-med books on the floor by the nightstand, a bundle of laundry in one far corner. Clean or dirty was anyone's guess. It was the subtle feminine things that sung out to him. The black lace bra hanging over the same chair as her stethoscope. A random tube of lipstick on a desk it looked like she used more as storage than a place to study. He smiled. She was a little messy and haphazard and apparently cooking breakfast. He was willing to bet she didn't usually have time and started the search for his boxers, curious to see what her kitchen had to offer.

Turned out her kitchen offered him a perfect view of her long legs in a tee shirt and boyshorts, still oblivious to his presence. The hum he had heard was distinct now. Her voice muttering a Spanish song while she worked. There was coffee along with the bacon and apparently eggs. She didn't look flustered or like she was trying too hard. Her hair was curlier than he'd ever seen it and pulled into a high bun that bobbed when she moved. He didn't think she'd appreciate him calling her adorable but right then it fit and he couldn't stop the grin that split his face, ready to meet all of last night's consequences head-on.

  
"Thanks for the water and aspirin. How are you feeling?"

  
She turned with only a slight start, her song abruptly cut off. Her face looked remarkably neutral. He figured it'd be something like this. Dawson reined in and cautious after letting herself go.

"Morning. Had worse. Get yourself some coffee I'm almost done here." She gestured with her shoulder to a cupboard which he assumed held mugs. He took down two and poured before shuffling to her fridge to grab some milk. Without asking he made her coffee order perfectly, long hours in the firehouse had given him some insights into her preferences. He set it down next to her hand by the stove with a kiss to her temple before collapsing into a chair at her table. He waited for a reaction to his presumption that never came. She turned to him with a smile as she sipped.

"Thanks"

"No, thank you" he replied intently his hand gesturing to the stove and the coffee. He wondered for a minute if they would round robin their thank yous. Going back and forth and being so polite and detached until one or both of them cracked. He lost that thought to the clatter of plates and forks and Dawson collapsing next to him with a command to dig in, stalling all conversation for a long hungry moment. He murmured his approval and she ticked an eyebrow up in response.

"This is really good. Holy shit you can cook."

"I do my fair share at the firehouse idiot"

"Yeah but large batch cooking isn't the same come on now" He knew he was pouring on the charm but she let him. Chiding him without venom, her pleasure in his enjoyment obvious. The eggs were really that good. Not a scramble but a frittata she had said. She took her time and made something delicious and he didn't think she was trying to say anything to him with it but even if she was… he was not sure it worried him. Her smile was so damn near beatific it stunned him. All he'd ever seen of her was crisis mode at work, short blunt statements between hot tempered blowouts, her loyalty to Shay and her wicked humour. This, this self-conscious sweetness in domesticity was a tad out of their bailiwick but Dawson, smart as ever, brought them back to center.

"Just because you can't boil water to save your life…"

"We save lives every day leave me to my water"

Dawson snorted as she took another bite of her eggs. Severide cocked his head and just looked at her. It literally made no sense, him being there. By now he was usually gone with a shower and a smile in the same clothes as last night, one truly satisfied woman in his wake. Never mind Shay in all this. Maybe it was the armor thing she'd been babbling about the night before but she didn't seem stuck on him or mesmerized. She was eating her eggs and drinking her coffee and they weren't locked in an awkward standoff about what this was because she knew all about him. He should have been happy.

He took one last gulp of coffee and met her curious gaze with one of his own. No hesitation or false shyness from Dawson.

  
"What are you doing for the next three hours?" he asked. Watched Dawson put her fork down. Leaned back in her chair for distance, her eyes slightly confused by his question.

"Nothing. Wh-" Quick as her breath, Severide was on his knees between her thighs, his mouth pressing in as she gasped.


	3. Kelly makes his case

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex. It always gets complicated. Even if it isn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So with this chapter we move into M rating territory. Forgive me if I panic. It is not gratuitous nor overly explicit. There is actual plot development forward with the characters. Okay I'll shut up and let you read now. Thanks again for reading!

The problem with bad decisions to Dawson's mind, was that you kept on making them; compounding your early foolishness brick by brick with each successive action. She should have felt wrong but she didn't. Kelly had her pressed to a wall, her back to his chest, his soft crooning voice in her ear as they moved against each other just a little too perfect feeling for coherent words. He had decided on calling her Bri, the second syllable in her four syllable name and right now it was _Bri baby just like this please you amazing gorgeous_ \- he choked back a groan when she shifted and sighed, both his hands clutched over both of hers. She should have felt powerless but she didn't. She spoke to him in Spanish, curled her tongue around lies he couldn't understand but when he kissed her neck like it was the only place he wanted to be, she let herself believe it.

Shay still didn't know. Their mutual silence on bringing her into their secret was only bitter because neither was sure how she would handle this shift in their dynamics. It wasn't a relationship. It was definitely a problem. She really needed to read the anti-fraternization regs…

"Stop thinking baby" and she definitely needed to start hating him for adding baby to every third thought in bed. She was about to retort. To snark at him when he took one of their joined hands, skimmed it down her stomach to the top of her thighs and began rubbing both their fingers over her clit. She gasped loudly and he bit gently on her ear. "Stop it Bri. Feel this. Yeah?" and she nodded leaning her head back on his bad shoulder with a loud sobbing cry as he kept going and going bless his stamina.

"K-Kelly" she warned. She'd never picked a nickname. What was the point anyway. "I can't. I can't. I can't" right up until she could her body bowed and him catching her to his body still going, his sweet laugh in her ear turning into a full body shudder and groan, his arms wrapped all the way around her smaller form and all his usual words pouring out until he collapsed them both on her bed.

He surprised her but she'd never admit it. She assumed he'd be stoic and silent in bed. There to get off and show off given his revolving door of lovers but it turned out Kelly really loved women. He loved their bodies and their sounds and he was vocal about all of it. He was always completely present during sex. It had made her feel shy at first which had made her just _furious_. Just because he was a manwhore didn't make her a prude. She lashed out more than once, rattling off a stream of words while he sat and blinked before she realized that this was part of him. This was baseline Severide and he wasn't giving her a line. He was giving her his awed and pleased opinion on being so close he got to see the dimples in her back. Who even looked for that?

She leapt back into the moment when he turned her towards him. His hand rifling through her hair.

"Talk to me" there was a silent thread of demand in his voice. She heard it but she never obeyed.

"Work is all" she was smart enough to not say nothing. Kelly was by no means an obtuse male when it came to the fickle moods of women. He didn't exactly cuddle but his left hand made sweeping passes down her side, back and forth, his callused fingers catching here and there on her skin. The look on his face was contemplative and she was lulled into something like complacency by his gentleness, so at odds with their previous activity. Dawson closed her eyes.

"We can stop if you want Bri" It took her more than a minute to understand what he meant by that. She made no sudden movements, her face carefully composed as she opened her eyes to his face, his hand still making their gentle sweeps up and down her body.

"Why?" it slipped out before she wanted it to but he'd surprised her again. She watched him shrug and turn away for a second, reverting to the cocky posturing they both knew was bullshit and a surefire way to piss her off. "I'm not a mind reader and you aren't half the jackass I thought you were. Why would you put that on me you prick" Okay, so she was a little mad at his cowardice but he maybe shouldn't have made this suggestion right after sex. Even Severide was fallible. Apparently. He made a sound of frustration and sat up his hands splayed before him. She watched him rub one hand through his hair and stare across at the wall they'd just used as a prop.

"You're not happy. You're worried all the time and your anxiety is fucking palpable at the firehouse" he started before he took a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm not trying to make anyone's life harder than it already is Bri". To say Dawson was speechless was an understatement. It suddenly hurt to look at him, sitting there, saying things that were all about her being okay when she assumed he was ready to cut and run because, well, he could. That was his usual mode and nothing in their history suggested differently. They'd been at this for what? Two months? Spring was almost here and she hadn't been looking. Not at him. Not really it seemed.

She sat up next to him and kissed his shoulder. "You don't make my life difficult Kelly" and it was true. While them together was a bad decision, complicated and absurd, she could not regret it. He made her feel found. He made her feel like who she was in that very moment was enough and he treasured every particle of her existence.

"Then what do you need Dawson? I'm here. I know it's weird and we don't talk about the other stuff because it makes this thing more real but it already is because I'm here and not on the other side of town watching Rocky with Shay"

Dawson didn't want to have this conversation but here she was. Sitting next to the ladies' man of Firehouse 51 having a sincere talk about _what they were doing_. She was unclear on which episode of the Twilight Zone this should be filed under but she figured no matter what she should have it face to face. She slid in front of him and straddled his lap as naked and as vulnerable as she'd ever felt and stared at him. Really stared at the man who had spent at least half a month's nights in her bedroom over the last six weeks. Like it was just that natural, that easy to be with her. He was so beautiful it hurt right down to that little gap between his two front teeth. It was brutal, all six feet of him and how he could use it. The absolute strength in him as well as sheer stupidity. What on God's green earth was she doing with him.

"I don't care about anything else but coming clean to Shay. She's family." Severide wrapped his arms around her as she held his face between her palms, still staring right through his blue eyes.

"So is the firehouse and every bit of the complicated mess we both have there" he countered. She appreciated that he said we. It made her start to tremble. Her and Severide, a _we_. The sky most definitely was falling somewhere. And he wasn't wrong. His drama with Casey was nothing compared to her clusterfuck with Mills and Casey and knowing more about Mills' dad's history than she really should which brought her to Boden and…

"Hey hey Bri look at me" she hadn't realized she'd squeezed her eyes shut. She took a deep breath and blinked her eyes wide. It floored her that he was cracking himself open. That what he was even slightly suggesting came from him and not her. He'd been hurt like Shay had been hurt by a woman and his preferred method of coping was what it was. She almost couldn't handle his earnest gaze.

"My father is an asshole. Married three times and just as many divorces…"

"Are you seriously bringing up your father while we're naked?" She cut in because she had to. Because she was nervous and this was actually absurd and what had begun as small tremors with her hands on his face was now outright shaking because she felt cold and vulnerable and seen by a man who should have been a one time deal when she was sad. He pulled her closer. Wrapped his calves against her lower back and his forearms around her shoulders, his hands still smoothing up and down her skin.

"Could you let me finish? My idea of romance is a second date and we are so far beyond that I am bound to screw up and you know it. Don't lie to me" Severide rubbed his stubbled cheek along her palm and glared at Dawson til she nodded. "Okay then. I get that you're in own head with this Bri. I get that you don't trust me. I get that you feel alone and stupid and primed for the next crappy thing I do. And I really really suck at using my words. But I already know you aren't worried about all that because you're prepared for it. You're worried about everyone else"

Dawson wanted to interrupt but he pushed forward. "You're worried about what the chief will think because of Peter Mills and whatever the hell is going on there with my dad. You're definitely freaked about Casey and I shouldn't tell you that he is a Grade A idiot for making you wait. Who the hell could make you wait? I can't. It's why I'm here. I may fuck this up but at least I want to try"

Dawson felt her eyes begin to tear up and she swallowed against it. "And I am an idiot. Like my dad so who knows. I became a firefighter like him at the same damn firehouse trying to make a man who was never there for me proud. Bri, I have what might be politely described as _issues_ " he laughed a little at his own joke but Dawson wasn't smiling. She ran her hands through his short hair and watched him sigh at the feel of her fingers running along his scalp. This much eye contact was making her heart race but she held it, sensing that he needed her to see him as much as hear him and how ardent he was about this.

"If you want to try then why even suggest we stop?"

"Because I'm not going to lead you somewhere you don't want to go. I am not that guy. I have some pride Bri"

She kissed his forehead and smoothed the worry lines she had planted there. It was bizarre being like this with him after pining so long for someone else. Someone good and stable and noble. He didn't have to say it but he must have known that she compared him to Casey, unconsciously. It horrified her to think that he might feel unworthy, the way she had when he kissed her, drunk and grieving on that sidewalk not so long ago. She traced her index finger along his chin and frowned.

"What do you want Kelly?"

"You to stop worrying and just let us be whatever this is."

"It's not that simple" she argued.

"It is if you focus on the fact that what we do is no one's business but ours" he insisted with a fierceness that had her blinking rapidly. She expected the protectiveness and privacy spiel from Casey. To see Severide hold her to the same code was heady.

"Everyone will cope or not cope. So what? Nothing, I mean nothing, we have done is wrong. I am not your superior. You are a paramedic in charge and I am a lieutenant in charge of the rescue squad. Just in case you were going to argue about fraternization regs and public employees.

She had been, but she lost her train of thought when he braced his hands on her hips and pulled her down onto him with a small sound she echoed. Dawson gripped his shoulders tightly, waiting for him to move, waiting for him to push the argument away with what he knew best and she was glad to receive. Except he didn't. Severide stayed still and quiet; gave her his forthright stare and Dawson was nonplussed. He was waiting for her response about fraternization and Dawson hesitated. How she replied was important.

"You know I've never cared about that." if she had then she would never have dated Mills or hoped for Casey. She would never have ended up drunk and in his arms at all.

"No. You care about your coworkers" he prodded quietly, bringing them back to his original question of what she needed from him. He was rocking her slowly, back and forth, clearly not in a hurry and forcing her to focus. To stay present and aware. She found it more soothing than anything else.

"I care about you," she said it just as quietly and was rewarded with a blinding smile. He kissed her softly on the nose, still moving gently back and forth and her hands were clenched over his shoulders. "You're good at this. You're very very good at this but I see you Kelly. I care about you" Dawson panted. And truly, he amazed her sometimes with his depths. So she gave herself up to the moment, to him because all he was really asking was for her to be there with him and she could do that. She could exist in the sweet burn where their edges blurred and he made a feast of her body, kissing and stretching and all the while saying _Bri_ and _baby_ like she was a totally different person when they were so close a sheet of paper couldn't fit between them. Maybe she was.

He was planting kisses on her spine when she woke. Nothing had really been resolved but he'd pulled a confession from her and declared his own desires and she smiled into her pillows when he kissed each dimple above her butt and whispered "Damn". He was such a silly idiot but somehow, he was hers.

* * *


	4. Fallout or just falling?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do they or don't they tell Shay...

He tried to keep it professional at work. He really did. Shay helped. Her shock and have you lost your fucking minds?! still echoed in the back of his head from the tirade he and Dawson suffered through. Shay was still in a bit of a spiral about it. Looking between him and Dawson anytime they were all in a room together at the firehouse like they were a walking timebomb. It would have been amusing if it hadn't made Dawson so uncomfortable. He could tell she was relieved to no longer be hiding from her friend but it definitely put a damper on any thoughts to just be out there with everyone. Dawson talked a good game when she was angry and worked up but she didn't actively enjoy making people unhappy with her decisions. He figured he was too much of a bastard to care.  
So he was staring and he knew it. D, he called her D at work because it was close enough to Bri to get him a smile but not into trouble, was checking supplies in the ambulance and he was sitting in the sun with a cigar relishing the cool warmth of mid-morning sun. Mills was playing with Pouch, also sneaking glances at Dawson. Severide never got the full story on that breakup. He wondered if it was too late to ask or if this was one of those things you found out when you felt safe and comfortable with someone. He really had no clue. She didn't push him and he didn't push her and there had been no words beyond her one quiet declaration and his own intent. And that was okay. He didn't feel like he was caught in a cutesy sugar overload of a thing but their line of work made fairy tales sort of pointless. He'd seen the way she wielded a scalpel. The woman was adorable, just not at work and why wasn't he feeling more suffocated?

A job came in. Truck. Squad. Ambulance. And they shuffled quickly into their gear and vehicles towards a scene that proved to be a disaster of a three alarm fire in the Chicago Loop district. Too many tourists. Too many people period. And just their luck it was a federal building near Printer's Row. Too much fucking paper. Chief was calling out orders as he received them from the other battalion chief on scene. D and Shay were setting up triage. Casey was looking at the fifth floor roof with a dubious eye towards venting. He agreed. The fire was burning too hot too fast for that to be a viable option but it ultimately wasn't his call. Nor Chief's. It wasn't a good feeling.

Chief called him over. According to employees who worked in the building, there were three people trapped on a staircase between the third and fourth floor. Two men and one pregnant woman who they were carrying down the stairs. His team was booking it.

"Stay on the comms" Chief ordered then turned quickly to Casey and his team to discuss hydrant access and opening the hoses. Severide was already walking briskly to the building with Tony and his boys as people streamed out, smelling of smoke and charred chemicals.

He called through to Chief that he was going to try and clear the north end of the building floor by floor to make sure there were no other people trapped while Tony and Capp checked on the three confirmed in the stairwell. He hoped they hadn't moved too far. Or if they had, further down the stairs so his crew could find them quickly. A pregnant woman in her third trimester inhaling smoke… stress could lead to early labour as Casey had discovered in that car incident awhile back. And he really did not want the day to be about recoveries.

"Fire Department! Fire Department! Call out!" Severide kicked in office doors on the second floor. The lick of heat and smoke heavy on his mask. So far he heard nothing and his scanner wasn't picking up anything. He knew another ladder company was checking from the south side of the building but they were not his priority at the moment. He had to be efficient and quick. Over the comms he heard Capp say they were carrying the woman down. Tony had a hold of one guy, Bobby while the other was fine to walk on his own but all three needed oxygen. A good piece of news.

Bobby said he was the warden for the fourth floor and he thought his end of the building was cleared out but had no idea about the fifth. Severide doubled back to meet them as they passed the second floor landing and signal his intention to check the third. He knew the hoses were going but it would take time for them to work and no one had a clue how the fire had started still.  
"Kelly you can't go alone!" but Capp was yelling at his back while he scaled the stairs in fifty pounds of gear. He heard the upward surge of a fire squall through the air from below them. The fire was jumping. Finding fuel in the old fashioned floorboards of the fifties era building  
.  
"Get those civilians out!" he retorted half aware that unless he made his way to the other side of this very unstable building, he might have to clear a window.  
Severide kicked in an office door on the third floor and called out. He crossed to the window and broke the glass to peer out at the scene below. Three ladder companies, several hoses and three ground ladders with civilians and firefighters climbing slowly down to safety. All rescues and no recoveries. So far so good.

"Severide! Location! Now!" Chief barked.

"Third floor. North west corridor. The wind is picking up and giving this fire more oxygen sir"

"Clear the floor and get back down here. You have one minute"

It was, he thought, a good thing Chief trusted him enough to know he was not the slightest bit suicidal in his need to save others. "Fire Department! Call Out!"  
He heard the weak cry but he almost didn't believe it. Turning a corner, he saw a boy trapped in a corner between the elevator bank and the wall by a smouldering piece of ceiling. The kid was cowering on the floor, coughing into a shirt and bright red with heat.

"Chief, I've got a kid trapped by the north elevator bank. Unstable ceiling. Where's the closest ground ladder?" he was already pushing debris out of his path.

"You have thirty seconds to get out of the building. You won't make it to a ladder. The fire has spread and that corridor has no vent. Do you understand?"

He did. Really he did. But the kid was close to passing out and over his shoulder. He could try and climb his way back over to the window he broke open but if what Chief said was true that didn't make sense. Severide examined the space he was in. He had his ax and his hook and it was only the third floor. He shifted the kid more onto his shoulder and made for the closest window.

"Coming out the back third floor. Fourth window down. Might want to grab a net…"

Severide swore he could hear Chief cursing over the comms but it didn't matter. He heard the fire moving and it was going to be a near thing. The snap and pop of the floor beneath him said it was going to give at any moment. He broke the window and looked out. Hermann and Cruz were running over.

"The bucket will take too long. I'm gonna drop him!"

"Are you crazy?!" Hermann was yelling but Cruz dipped into sight below the window arms raised to catch. Severide braced himself without preamble. He had to get the kid out before he could climb down.  
On three the boy dropped into Cruz's arms already passed out and needing oxygen and evaluation more than anything else. Cruz immediately bolted to triage while Hermann called out for a ladder. Severide heard the fire pick up steam behind him. He didn't turn to look. One arm braced on the window frame, one hand around a pipe to scale down. He felt the explosion before he heard it spread out into every open space. His suit caught flame, his right hand slipped. He reached for his hook but the building was shifting and his body with it and then, there was the ground.


End file.
